I’ve made my first two attempts to make smoked beef kielbasa - practice runs for duck and goose sausage, once I get it right. The flavor is OK, but the natural hog casing is so tough when it comes out of the smoker, I have to peel it off in order to bite into the sausage. Also, the meat filling itself is somewhat dense in texture, even though I use the coarse grinding plate and only run the meat through the grinder one time. I’m using the Kitchen Aid grinder and auger-type sausage stuffer. Ingredients are mostly beef, some pork shoulder and pork fat. Total fat is approximately 25 - 30%. Very much appreciate your suggestions.

Thanks Joe. Maybe that’s part of it. I’ve only chilled the stuffed sausages an hour or so before going into the smoker. The skin turns out like leather.

YooperDog, I’m using natural hog casings bought from my local butcher - just weeks old since purchase. I’m using an electric low-end Cookshack smoker with a water pan. The smoker doesn’t have real good temperature control - it’s hard to keep it steady below 250 degrees. The sausages were only in the smoker 2 hours before reaching 160 degrees internal. I cooled them in the fridge after they came out of the smoker. It hadn’t occurred to me that a second grind would make them less dense. I thought it would be the opposite. Thanks for your suggestions.

YooperDog, There’s a considerable amount of fat in the drip pan and I think you’re right that the sausages are getting overcooked and losing both fat and water. My smoker has very poor temp control - it has swings as much as 100 degrees above the set temp. I’m thinking that this, along with the fact that I didn’t use the ice bath after smoking might also be contributing to the leathery, un-chewable skin. I’m looking into an Auber digital temp controller at this time and I think there might be a solution to temperature control there. Thanks YooperDog.